Dressed to Kill
by Rawr it's Kizami
Summary: Two mysterious girls appear in Bankuten Academy. Ever since their arrival, strange things have been happening. Just what secret are they keeping? Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: Rawr It's Kizami/KizamiRoXoRZ does not own the Beyblade franchise, but she does own Kiyone Sakebi and Ryoko Shiwaru, and the few other characters that seem out of place or you have never heard of.

**Timeline**: It's an alternate universe, which means... I'm not sure what it means actually. I guess you could say that they're all just stuck in school.

**Summary**: Two mysterious girls appear in Bankuten Academy. Ever since their arrival, strange things have been happening. Just what secret are they keeping?

**Forewarnings**: Well... umm... on the positive side, there's plenty of OOCness to go around!  
I also realized that the beginning of it is kind of, really slow-paced, but it'll get better later-on! I promise, :)

* * *

**Dressed to Kill**  
by Rawr It's Kizami

**Chapter One**

Tyson let out an audible snore.

Half of the class turned to look at him, and the other half watched Kai, who was sitting next to Tyson, with eager eyes, highly anticipating what would happen next.

Mr. Kiribayashi emitted a gutteral growl. He, too, knew what would happen.

From his seat behind Tyson, Tala prepared himself for what was coming next. On Tyson's right, Ray leaned back in his chair as a precaution and kept his eye trained on Kai.

In one swift movement, Kai chucked his thick physics book at Tyson's head. The book bounced off the sleeping blader's head and landed in Tala's hands. Tyson immediately woke up and screamed, "OH MY GOD, IT'S RAINING BRICKS!"

Without looking behind him, Mr. Kiribayashi said monotonously, "Mr. Hiwatari, please refrain from inflicting pain on Mr. Granger. Mr. Granger, please refrain from sleeping in class."

The same thing happened everyday. Tyson would always fall asleep in the middle of Mr. Kiribayashi's English lecture, those situated nearest to Tyson would prepare themselves, and Kai would throw his physics book at Tyson's head with dead-on accuracy, then either Tala or Ray would catch the book.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Kiribayashi exited the room as someone in the hallway signaled him. He remained in the hallway for a good few minutes, until he re-entered the room with two girls in tow.

The first girl had long, light lavender hair and fiery red eyes.

Her companion had short, shoulder-length light blue hair and piercing sapphire eyes. For an unknown reason, her arms each supported white bandages.

No one recognized them, but they were all glad for a break in the monotony.

"Class, we have two new transfer students joining us today," Mr. Kiribayashi announced. He gave the two girls a 'go-ahead' expression.

"Ah... my name is Kiyone Sakebi," the first girl said.

"I'm Ryoko Shiwaru," said the second.

Without a word, Mr. Kiribayashi pointed to the end of the class, to the two empty desks. Kiyone sat down at the desk behind Kai, and Ryoko to the left of her, next to the window.

As soon as the girls sat down, Mr. Kiribayashi continued with his lesson and Tyson turned to face Kiyone.

"Hi," he greeted between Kai and Tala's annoyed expressions, "I'm Tyson Granger." He pointed next to him at the steel haired boy, "This is Kai Hiwatari," then to the red haired one behind him, "Tala Ivanov," and finally to the raven haired boy at his left, "And Ray Kon."

Having been dragged into the conversation by Tyson's introductions, Tala felt compelled to turn to his left and ask, "So, where are you girls from?"

The two girls immediately stiffened.

"We're from the north," Kiyone finally answered.

Having expected a more specific answer, Tala gave an incredulous nod and turned to give Ray a shrug.

As Mr. Kiribayashi continued on with his lecture, Tyson scribbled a quick note and tossed it onto Ray's desk. Ray glanced down at the paper and, realizing that it wasn't addressed to him, tossed it onto Max's desk to his right. Max took one look at the paper and, realizing, too, that it wasn't for him, tossed it behind him to Enrique. Enrique looked at the paper and angrily scribbled a reply.

Rather than having the note be passed from Max to Ray to Tyson, Enrique threw the note and it bounced off Tyson's head onto his desk. Tyson took one look at it and jotted something down. As he prepared to toss the note back to the Italian, Mr. Kiribayashi glanced back, causing the note to fall from Tyson's hand and onto the floor near Tala.

Tala picked the note off the floor and read it, an unamused expression on his face. He quickly scribbled something and tossed it onto the floor between Kai and Tyson's desks. Unfortunately for the redhead, Tyson was occupied with his poor attempt to answer Mr. Kiribayashi's question about pronouns.

Kai plucked the note from the floor. An annoyed expression on his face after reading it, he calmly wrote a retort and threw it to Tala. At that very moment, Tyson chose to lean backwards in his chair. The note hit his temple and bounced to the floor. Tyson picked it up and quite happily scrawled something. In his attempt to toss it at Enrique again, the note slipped out of his fingers and fell to the floor as Mr. Kiribayashi turned around and shouted, "Tyson! What do you think you're doing?"

Tyson sat in his seat and laughed nervously. As he tried to reply to the teacher's rhetorical question, Ray pretended to drop his pencil and picked up both the pencil and the note. He looked at one sentence in the note and penciled in a confused reply. Having thought the note came from Tala, Ray tossed it back onto Tala's desk.

Tala took one look at the paper and wrote a reply. He tossed it back to Ray, and Ray wrote in his agreement. He tossed it back to Tala, but Tyson's hand shot out and grabbed the paper. He flashed Ray a toothy grin and looked at the note. Pouting ever so slightly, Tyson scribbled something on the paper and tossed it back to Tala, but Kai grabbed it in mid-air. He wrote a clever reply and threw it back at Tyson, where it collided with the other boy's head.

Tyson looked at the paper, pouted, and decided to end it. He quickly wrote something down and tossed it to Ray.

By the end of the trouble that Tyson's note caused, the paper supported several different handwritings and numerous exclamation points.

_Enrique: What's up with you and Oliver? _(Tyson)_  
TYSON, YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! He's my best friend! _(Enrique)_  
So go ask one of the new girls out! _(Tyson)_  
Screw you _(Tala)_  
Wanna start something, Ivanov? _(Kai)_  
Come on! I double dare you! _(Tyson)_  
Dare? What? _(Ray)_  
It's just Tyson being an idiot _(Tala)_  
He's always an idiot _(Ray)_  
Not always! _(Tyson)_  
That's not saying you're not an idiot _(Kai)_  
Who's up for hanging out after school? Pass it on! _(Tyson)

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

(To be continued.)

AN: Sorry guys, I know chapter one's kind of really short. :( I'll make the next one longer xD

Please review :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: Rawr It's Kizami/KizamiRoXoRZ does not own the Beyblade franchise, but she does own Kiyone Sakebi and Ryoko Shiwaru, and the few other characters that seem out of place or you have never heard of.

**Timeline**: It's an alternate universe, which means... I'm not sure what it means actually. I guess you could say that they're all just stuck in school.

**Summary**: Two mysterious girls appear in Bankuten Academy. Ever since their arrival, strange things have been happening. Just what secret are they keeping?

**Forewarnings**: Well... umm... on the positive side, there's plenty of OOCness to go around!

**Dressed to Kill**  
by Rawr It's Kizami

**Chapter Two**

"Enny, will you hurry up?"

Oliver tapped his foot impatiently on the tiled floor. The two of them were late for lunch already, and it was all because Enrique had to go to the restroom.

As soon as Enrique emerged from the restroom, the first words he said were, "Geez, Olly, you can't rush these things. If you gotta take a piss, you gotta take a piss!"

Oliver shrugged and the two boys walked down the hall to the quad, where everyone was already having lunch.

As they walked, Enrique occasionally turned around to glance behind them. He had the sinking feeling that someone or something was following them, but he couldn't be sure.

As they neared the main staircase, Enrique turned around one last time and saw a thin, wispy brown hair, as if from some kind of animal, float past him.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

As Tyson, Kai, Tala, Ray, Max, and Kenny sat at their table in the quad eating lunch, Enrique and Oliver walked up to their table and took their seats.

The eight of them ate in silence, except for the occasional outburst from Tyson and the consequential 'WHACK' that came from Kai's hand colliding with the back of Tyson's head.

Michael suddenly ran up to their table, an excited look on his face. "Hey guys, did you hear what happened?"

Tyson shook his head enthusiastically, his cheeks slightly bulged due to his mouth being filled with food.

Michael sat down next to Kenny and continued. "Well, earlier, at the beginning of lunch, someone broke into the Chem Lab and apparently stole all this sodium."

"They broke into the lab just to steal salt?" asked Tyson, his mouth full with food.

Kenny shook his head. "That's sodium chloride. Pure sodium is quite volatile, especially if it comes in contact with water."

Michael nodded. "That's just it. They stole all this sodium, and no one knows why or who did it! The principal closed the Chem Lab for now and he says he's going to increase security in the science building."

Kenny let out a cry and a distressed look crossed his face. "No!! I love the Chem Lab!"

"Let's go check it out," suggested Tala suggested from his seat between Kai and Ray.

"But the principal closed it off," Max reminded him.

"So?"

"If we all go it'll draw suspicion," said Kai.

"Great, since Max doesn't want to go anyway, he can stay here." Tala got up from his seat and looked down at the rest of the group. "Who else wants to stay here?"

"Not me!" exclaimed Tyson, jumping up from his seat.

"You better be quiet then," threatened Kai.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Kiyone and Ryoko stayed in their dorm room, having decided to not go to lunch for the day. Kiyone stood in the bathroom, peering into the mirror, while Ryoko sat on her bed and stared out the window overlooking the quad.

"Do you think we can stay here?" asked Ryoko to her companion, never taking her eyes away from the window.

"Hopefully, yes," replied Kiyone, staring into the eyes of her reflection.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Tyson, Kai, Tala, Enrique and Michael carefully snuck their way into the science building. The halls were eerily quiet and, for some reason no one could figure out, the lights in that building were always dimmer than the lights in the other buildings.

"What a great adventure!" exclaimed Tyson in a hushed voice as they neared their destination.

Tala tried to open the door to the Chem Lab, but to his dismay, found it to be locked.

"Adventure over," commented Enrique, sarcasm dripping off each word.

"Wait, I think I can pick the lock," said Kai. He took a hairpin from Tyson's hair, causing everyone to look at Tyson with an expression that said 'Why do you need that?'

"Do you know how annoying it is when your hair falls over your face all the time? It's to keep my hair in a neat ponytail, okay?" Tyson gave his ponytail a light pat for emphasis.

Ignoring him, Kai proceeded to pick the lock. Hearing a satisfying 'click' as the tumblers clicked into place, he opened the door and the five boys crept under the yellow caution tape and into the lab.

Almost as soon as they entered the room, Tyson walked over to one of the stations, poked at a vial, and accidently pushed a test tube onto the floor, where it shattered into a million pieces with a loud crash.

"Shhh!" hushed Enrique. "Do you want to get us caught?"

"Sorry, sorry," apologized Tyson as he got some paper towels and began cleaning up the glass shards.

"Hey, guys, take a look at this."

Everyone crowded around Michael. He took a pair of tweezers from one of the lab stations and picked up a single strand of long, lavender hair.

"Who do you think this belongs to?" he asked.

They all stared at it in silence for a while, until Kai suddenly snapped his fingers and said, "One of the new girls, Kiyone I think, has long, lavender hair."

"Do you think she did this?" asked Tala.

"Their first day and they rob the school?" commented Tyson. "I'm surprised. They must be pretty ambitious to do that."

"I'm surprised that you know the word 'ambitious'," said Kai. "And used it correctly."

"What can I say?" replied Tyson, a smug smile on his face. "I'm just full of ambitiousness."

"I take that back."

"What? What did I say?"

Michael shook his head. "Ambitiousness isn't a word. You mean ambition."

"Does anyone else think the word ambitious is starting to sound weird?"

Everyone ignored Tyson and continued with their original conversation about the Chem Lab thief.

"Why would she do it?" pondered Enrique.

"Maybe she just likes salt," Tyson offered jokingly. When Michael opened his mouth to correct him, he quickly added, "I know, I know, sodium chloride is salt, not pure sodium, and pure sodium is quite voltile."

"You mean _volatile_," corrected Tala.

"What did I say?"

"Nevermind..."

"If this hair is here, do you think the principal already thinks it was her?" said Michael.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

"Sir, it wasn't me!"

The principal shook his head. In front of his desk sat Kiyone Sakebi, one of the two new students at his academy. When security did a search of the chemistry lab at the beginning of lunch, they had found a strand of her hair.

"You're really something, Miss Sakebi," he told her. "Your first day here, and you steal something quite dangerous from the science building."

"I swear, it wasn't me, sir."

He held up a plastic baggie with a strand of lavender hair in it. "This is a strand of your hair, isn't it? We found it at the scene."

"I don't know how it got there... but I was nowhere near the science building at lunch."

"Then where were you?" He set down the baggie on his desk and held his clasped hands in front of him.

"I was in my dorm, with Ryoko. Even ask her, she'll vouch for me."

"How convenient that she rarely speaks."

"Then ask security. I was not in science building, sir!"

"There was no security in the science building until after you stole the sodium."

"But... it wasn't me!"

The principal sighed exasperatedly and took off his glasses. He rubbed his temples with his right hand and said to Kiyone, "It's not exactly solid evidence, but yours was the only hair we found. I suppose I'll let you off with a warning."

Feeling that she was fighting a losing battle, Kiyone decided to stop there and said curtly, "Thank you, sir."

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

(To be continued.)

AN: And the plot thickens! Hope you guys enjoy the story so far :) Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Special Thanks** **to** _**Aki no Kaze, SaiKaiya01, and AnaiayaHiwatari!**_

**Dressed to Kill**  
by Rawr It's Kizami

**Chapter Three**

The next morning, all of the students in Dormitory Building A were woken up by a loud explosion from the outside. They all scrambled to the scene of the explosion; the dragon fountain outside the main doors.

The first thing they noticed when they ran to the fountain was that it had been blown into pieces, the water spewing up like a geyser into the sky, and remnants of the stone fountain scattered throughout the patches of green grass and budding flowers that framed the cement walkway. But the thing everyone found the most shocking was that the two new girls, Kiyone and Ryoko, were standing, unmoving, and gazing at the debris.

Everyone wondered why they were there already. Did they blow up the fountain? Or were they just really fast in getting there?

"Wow, what happened here?" exclaimed Tyson.

"My guess is, someone turned off the fountain, put the sodium in the dragon's mouth, then turned it back on," explained Kenny, adjusting his glasses. "And the next thing you know, BOOM! The dragon's gone." He looked Tyson up and down. "Tyson... are those... _teddy bears_ on your pajamas?"

"Yes."

At Kenny's incredulous expression, Ray shrugged and told him, "Can't pay him to wear anything else to bed."

"That's weird," Max commented, chuckling.

"What's weird is that Kiyone and Ryoko were already here," Kai told them. "Tala and I got here before everyone else, but those two girls were standing there by the time we got here."

"You don't think they did it, do you?" asked Ray.

He looked around at his friends; Oliver shook his head sadly and looked at Enrique, who avoided Ray's gaze, Kai and Tala exchanged glances, Max and Kenny shrugged lazily, and Tyson continued to stare at the debris, awestruck. Their expressions all said the same thing: 'Maybe they did.'

"But there's no proof," continued Ray. He looked back at the scene. Where the proud dragon fountain of Dormitory Building A once stood lay the debris and puddles of what once was. Still, the two girls continued to stand in front of the debris, as if in a trance.

"It's suspicious though," said Kai, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group. "First the hair we found at the Chem Lab, and now the same person got here before everyone else?"

"And I thought Kai and I were rushing," Tala commented.

Max shifted his gaze to the two still girls. "If you guys were rushing, I wonder how fast they were going."

The two girls stood dead still, staring at the debris. What they were talking about, if they were talking, no one knew.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Oddly enough, during class that day, Tyson, for the first time in months, did not fall asleep during Mr. Kiribayashi's lecture. Instead, the blue headed blader was busily whispering with Ray on his right.

The whole class seemed to be whispering to one another, even Mr. Kiribayashi was muttering to himself.

Enrique was busily chatting with Julia on his left, Max was talking with Emily in front of him, and Kai and Tala passed a note between them for fear of the new girls eavesdropping.

They were all, of course, talking about them.

The girls knew, without needing anyone telling them, that everyone suspected them of blowing up the fountain. There was, however, no hard evidence against them, despite the word traveling around the grapevine.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Tyson carefully placed his full lunch tray onto the table and sat down in his seat next to Max. Just as he was about to take a bite from his sandwich, Michael ran up to their table.

"Hey, did you guys hear what happened?"

"Again?" came the muffled reply from Tyson.

Michael nodded and sat down next to Ray. "Someone broke into the auto shop this time and stole gasoline."

"Gasoline?" pondered Ray.

"Hmm." Kenny looked up in thought. "If they stole sodium to blow the fountain up, then maybe they stole gasoline to burn something down, parallelism not intended."

"You don't think they're going to burn one of the buildings, do you?" said Tala.

Everyone's face supported the same incredulous expression. After the fountain exploded, they knew that anything was possible.

Kai turned to Michael. "Do you know who stole it?"

The American shook his head. "It's just like yesterday. They have no idea who stole it, but I'm pretty sure that they still think it was Kiyone Sakebi."

Tala looked over their group, an adventurous glint gleaming in his eyes. "You guys know what this means right?"

"That Kiyone really is the thief?" offered Oliver.

"No! Well, I don't know. But I do know that we're going on a trip to the auto shop."

Kai cocked an eyebrow and look at Tala. "We?"

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Silently, Kai, Tala, Enrique, Michael, and Ray snuck under the half open garage and into the auto shop. After the Chem Lab fiasco, the quartet decided to leave Tyson behind and bring Ray in his stead.

As soon as the five boys crept inside, they found themselves face to face with a broken-down, blue '89 Mustang in a dimly, if at all, lit auto class.

"Hey, Ivanov, what are we looking for?" Kai shot Tala an annoyed look.

The redheaded Russian shrugged and turned his attention to Michael, who shrugged back. "We don't know," he told Kai.

Kai crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the workbench. "That's just great, you guys. We snuck in here and we don't even know what we're in here for."

"Yeah, if we get caught, you guys, we're really screwed," added Ray.

"Hey, Kai, what's that you're leaning on?" asked Enrique, squinting at the form he thought was Kai.

Kai turned around and scrutinized the wooden workbench. There were the usual tools hanging on the wall; Wrench, screwdrivers, different heads for the drill, the actual drill, and a large empty area where something large was stored. Kai pointed at the gap and said to the others, "I think this was where the gasoline was."

While everyone peered at the wall and the workbench, Michael crouched down and looked at the floor. His eyes reflected with discovery as he plucked a single strand of short light, blue hair off the cement.

"What's that you got there, Mike?"

Michael turned to Ray and showed him the hair.

Enrique looked over Ray's crouching body at Michael's hand. "Light blue? Doesn't that one girl, Ryoko, have light blue hair?"

"Hey, yeah, she does," Ray agreed.

Tala, who had been fiddling with an awkwardly shaped screw driver, said absent-mindedly, "Do you guys think security has checked the area yet? When we went to the Chem Lab they were already done, but we left pretty early this time."

"Now that you mention it, there's no caution tape." Michael stood up and tucked the fallen hair into his jacket pocket.

As soon as he finished his sentence, Kai picked his head up. "Someone's coming."

Soon, they all heard distant voices talking. "Yeah, I can't believe someone would steal gasoline." It was the principal's voice. "Yeah, gas prices these days are so high, but what student has their car here?"

The voices grew louder and before long, footsteps could be heard.

The five boys crowded behind the Mustang and watched as the principal and two security guards walked into the auto shop. The three adults headed straight for the workbench, and the quintet quickly scrambled out with the only piece of evidence.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

(To be continued.)

AN: For the record, sodium + water can't blow up a brick wall, so I don't think it can blow up a fountain (They proved it on Mythbusters), but you know, just for the story, it can. xD

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :) Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes: **_Blah blah blah _ Notes/foreign language

**Special thanks to **_**Aki no Kaze and Eden! :D**_

**Dressed to Kill**  
by Rawr It's Kizami

**Chapter Four**

The five boys quickly ran back to their lunch table, where Tyson, Kenny, Max, and Oliver were waiting. They immediately sat down, everyone with the exception of Kai and Tala, panting and out of breath.

"What's up with you guys?" asked Tyson, taking a bite out of his third sandwich.

Once he regained his posture, Michael reached into his pocket and held out the strand of blue hair. "We found this in the auto shop."

"Is that Ryoko's...?" asked Max.

Enrique nodded.

"We're not going to do anything rash until we're sure they did it," Tala told them. "But, you know, it's not looking too good."

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

The next morning, the students of Dormitory Building A were once again woken up by the sound of impending disaster. The fire alarm began ringing in the hallways, throwing people into a panic.

Tyson fell out of bed, Max dropped his toothbrush into the sink, Emily and Hilary screamed as if from a nightmare, and Kenny shouted, "THE SCHOOL IS BURNING, THE SCHOOL IS BURNING!"

When no one on any floor found any fire anywhere, everyone ran outside to where the fountain debris were taped off. Sure enough, right in front of the debris was an old oil drum with a wild flame burning inside. It reeked of gasoline and matches, but the most shocking thing was that once again, Kiyone and Ryoko were found standing in front of the scene.

"What was burning?" Tyson asked Kai and Tala as he ran up to them.

The two Russians turned around.

"I don't- Tyson, are those teddy bears?" Tala pointed at Tyson's pajamas with one hand and used the other hand to cover his mouth as he tried to hide his snicker.

Tyson pouted and crossed his arms defiantly. "What's wrong with teddy bear pajamas? At least I'm wearing something comfortable and soft, and not," he pointed at Tala's attire, "just a shirt and sweats."

"I'll have you know that this is quite comfortable," Tala retorted.

"Tala, it's hot enough to be summer," Oliver told him.

"No such thing as summer," was the reply before the redhead turned back around to look at the blazing metal drum.

Again, the two new girls stood closest to the incident, their hair blowing in the wind, just watching the flames dancing. Their eyes were wide, but no one could tell whether it was from shock, fear, or just a sick, twisted sense of pleasure.

"Is it just me or are they looking guiltier and guiltier?" Everyone turned to look at Max. "I mean, first the sodium from the Chem Lab," Max counted the incidents with his fingers as Kenny let out a dejected sigh, "then the fountain being blown up from the sodium, then the gasoline from the auto shop, and now this bonfire?"

"I'd hardly call it a bonfire," said Kai, glancing back to the scene. "It's more like the work of a pyromaniac."

At that moment, the same question burned in their minds with the same intensity as the flames in the oil drum: Did the girls do it?

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

In class later that day, Tyson miraculously did not fall asleep again. The entire class was dumbstruck with wonder. Ever since the two girls started attending the academy, Tyson had not fallen asleep in class once, among other strange happenings around campus.

And they all seemed to revolve around Dormitory Building A, where the girls were staying.

The question still nagging at the back of his mind, Tyson decided to scribble down a quick note and tossed it onto Kiyone's desk.

_Did you do it?_

She stared down at the paper, her red eyes narrowing into a look of disbelief. She knew that it was the question of the year, with everyone wanting to know and even those who didn't know about the situation wondering about it.

Kiyone quickly wrote down _No _and tossed it back to Tyson, who took one look at it and turned to Kai, displaying the answer. Kai glared at him and brushed him off, so Tyson turned to his right and showed Ray, who shrugged. Sighing glumly, the blue haired boy turned around and showed the note to Tala.

"You honestly believe them?" whispered Tala. "If you ask, of course they're going to say that they didn't do it."

"We say we didn't do it, because we didn't do it."

Tala, Tyson, and Kai, who had overheard, turned to face Kiyone. Her face supported the most earnest expression, so earnest that they almost believed her for a second.

"Are we supposed to take your word for it?" hissed Kai in a hushed voice.

"Yes," she replied hotly. "I'm not going to lie about something I didn't do."

"I believe you," Tyson told her, emphasizing 'I'. "These two are a little skeptical, however."

"A little?" she muttered.

"It's just that we need proof," explained Tala. "We found both your hair and Ryoko's hair at the Chem Lab and the auto shop."

"And then there's that weird thing where you guys are always the first ones at the scene of the disasters," added Tyson.

Kiyone paled suddenly and looked away. "It's not that simple," she muttered under her breath.

"Kiyone, prove to us that you guys aren't the vandals," Kai said, drawing her attention back to the group.

Tyson nodded enthusiastically. "Then everyone will stop thinking it was you guys, and you'll be free of the blame!"

"How?"

They all shrugged.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

"Do you guys ever find it weird that we never see Ryoko or Kiyone eating lunch?" asked Tyson suddenly. In front of him lay his lunch tray, topped with three slices of school pizza and a giant cookie on the side.

"Maybe they just don't eat in the quad," Max retorted. "Not everybody does, Tyson."

"Nor does everbody like the school lunches," commented Ray, a disdainful expression plastered on his face as he poked at his school lasagna with his fork.

Tyson's reply was muffled by the large bite he had taken of his first slice of pizza.

For the third day in a row, Michael Parker ran up to their table.

Enrique let out an exasperated sigh. "What happened this time, Mike? Wait, let me guess. Someone broke into the band room and stole all the drumsticks?"

Michael shot Enrique a glare. "No. Can't I just come over and sit with my friends at lunch?"

Kenny looked up from his food at Michael. "For the past two days, Michael, you've come over to our table because you had some news about something being stolen, and then you," he pointed at Kai, Tala, Michael, and Enrique in turn, "would go off in an 'adventure' and search the scene." He turned his attention back to the American. "So, what is it this time?"

"Nothing, honestly," Michael replied, stealing one of Kai's fries and consequently receiving a glare.

Just as everyone began to calm down and eat their lunch in peace, Brooklyn ran up to their table and announced, "The shovel from the green house got stolen!"

Oliver dropped his fork and threw his hands up in defeat, crying, "_Mon dieu_! We're never going to finish lunch without something getting stolen!"

Everyone immediately turned their gazes to Tala, anticipating his next move. Instead, Tala just ate a spoon-full of his rice before he realized everyone was staring at him.

"Well, Tala?" Kai plucked the spoon out of Tala's mouth.

Tala chewed his food and swallowed it before saying, "Well what? What do you expect me to do?"

"Aren't you going to tell us to go check out the green house?" Ray asked.

"Green house?"

Brooklyn blinked at Tala blankly. "Didn't you hear? The shovel in the greenhouse got stolen!"

Tala blinked back at him. "What?! When did we get a green house? This is blasphemy!"

Kai rolled his eyes and tucked the spoon back in Tala's mouth. "So, let's go take a look at this green house then."

The redheaded Russian grabbed the spoon and shouted, "Where is this green house?! I've never seen it!"

"That's because you never so much as smelled a flower," Kai retorted, patting Tala's head.

"Why would I?"

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

Five boys, Brooklyn, Tala, Kai, Enrique, and Max, entered the courtyard from the back exit in Dormitory Building A.

"So we do have a greenhouse." Tala looked around him. Apparently, the greenhouse was situated at the center of the school, in the middle of the buildings, in a courtyard that Tala didn't even know existed.

Kai rolled his eyes. Even with the window in his and Tala's dorm facing the courtyard, Tala didn't even know the school had a botany class, let alone a greenhouse. Or a courtyard, Kai added mentally as he watched Tala gaze at the courtyard with an excited expression.

"Here it is." Brooklyn stood in front of a large green, glass door. There was no caution tape.

He carefully slid open the door and they went inside. Enrique and Max immediately rubbed their arms from the rush of a/c.

Brooklyn sighed and rested a hand on one of the potted plants. "It's a shame they closed it because of the theft."

"It feels like winter in here," commented Max.

"I like it," Tala replied.

Kai rolled his eyes at Tala again and walked around the greenhouse. All four sides were lined up with metal shelves, each of them supporting numerous amounts of different potted plants. In the middle was a large wooden table with several potted plants and various gardening tools scattered around.

Max looked around with his arms wrapped around himself. His sapphire eyes finally rested on the far corner of the building, where the larger gardening tools were stored. He sighed sadly and ventured to the corner farthest from the exit, where he knelt down and examined the floor as Michael had previously done.

"What are you doing looking at the floor, Max?" Tala asked. "I don't think there's anything down there except dirt." Realizing that Max was still rubbing his arms, he added, "Or are you cold?"

Max replied, "Very," and stood up.

Behind Tala, Kai looked intently at one of the potted plants on the shelf and plucked a piece of white cloth from one of the leaves.

"What have you got there, Kai?" Enrique asked, peering over Kai's arm.

"I don't know," answered Kai. He turned the cloth over in his hands but found that he couldn't figure out where it came from.

"Doesn't Ryoko have bandages on her arms?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yeah, she does," said Tala. "It must have gotten caught on the... leaf," he said incredulously, "when she stole the shovel." Even he found it hard to believe that the cloth would get snagged on a plant growth.

"That's if they did it," Kai corrected.

While still rubbing his arms, Enrique nodded. "I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Kai shrugged in response. "We better get out of here before the principal comes back with security."

They all nodded and left.

- + - + - + - + - + - + -

(To be continued.)

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed the chappy :) Remember to review, thankies! xD

Oh and, in case you were wondering, _Mon Dieu_ means "My God" in French.


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